© 2012 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
Senior Legal Writer for The Texas Lawbook
The Texas Supreme Court announced Thursday that electronic filing will be mandatory and uniform in all civil cases, including family, probate, county at-law and district courts in the large metropolitan areas and in all appellate courts by Jan. 1, 2014.
The justices ordered that all civil court cases, even in the smallest jurisdictions, be filed electronically by July 1, 2016.
The court, in its order, specifically stated that “attorneys must not file documents through any alternative electronic document filing transmission system (including fax filing), except in the event of emergency.” Pro se litigants are welcome to file electronically, but are not required to do so.
The state Supreme Court and four courts of appeal currently have mandatory electronic filing. Five additional courts of appeal offer the option of e-filing, while 236 district courts and 81 county at-law courts have electronic filing as an alternative.
The justices point out in the order that while most courts have some sort of e-filing, the systems vary widely.
“Mandatory e-filing in civil cases will promote the efficient and uniform administration of justice in Texas courts,” the justices said in the order. “Without a centralized and uniformed portal for accessing court case information, the advantages of filing electronically are greatly diminished.”
While counties with a population of 500,000 or more are required to have the state’s electronic filing system in place by January 1, 2014, the other jurisdictions will be phased in over the next two and a half years. For example:
- Courts in counties with a population between 200,000 and 499,999 must have e-filing in place by July 1, 2014;
- Courts in counties with a population between 100,000 and 199,999 must have e-filing in place by January 1, 2015;
- Courts in counties with a population between 50,000 and 99,999 must have e-filing in place by July 1, 2015;
- Courts in counties with a population between 20,000 and 49,999 must have e-filing in place by January 1, 2016;
- Courts in counties with a population less than 20,000 must have e-filing in place by July 1, 2016.
“I think everybody will eventually be happy because lawyers will be able to push a button and file, just like in federal court,” says Justice Nathan Hecht.
Justice Hecht says there are two methods of potentially paying for the e-filing system. The first is the “toll road model,” which charges a fee every time a new document is filed. The second method is to have the Legislature allow the courts to file a one-time e-filing fee per case, similar to the Pacer system in federal court.
Here is a link to the order: http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/miscdocket/12/12920600.pdf.
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